Reality: “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times”…  their best behavior wore off quickly 

My kids started homeschooling with varying degrees of enthusiasm. However, it did not take long for the novelty to wear off and for real life to settle in. My kids who did not like to do their chores did not like to do their schoolwork any better. Kids who tended to fight and quarrel when they were in school had even more time to fight and quarrel when they were home all day. Keeping the peace was a much bigger job than I expected. 

I was worried about the difficulty of teaching all the various subjects to my children, but that turned out to be one of the easier parts! The hard part was learning to get along together when we were in the same house all day. Sending children off to school in different directions is a pretty easy way to keep the peace. Our commitment to home education required a commitment to working together as a family, communicating through problems and frustrations, and developing effective ways to deal with the conflicts that inevitably came up. 

This may sound like a sad reality. It is not. The family is the great laboratory of life. One of the single most important things we learn in that labratory is to communicate, build connections with other unique people in our family, cooperate and work together as a team. When all is said and done, that is probably far more important than the math or science we learn. 

When tempers are hot, patience is low, and things are NOT going harmoniously, remember it is simply a time for more “practice” in the subject of interpersonal relationships. Embrace it and enjoy the good times!